Cutter assemblies for cutting extrudate have in the past been associated with electrically-driven motors. Such a cutter assembly will rotate about a fixed shaft mounted to the extruder and the coupling to a motor for rotation may be via a spool attached to a belt driven by the motor, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,529, or via a universal drive connection that is itself coupled to another drive. Such assemblies are cumbersome because of the space occupied by the electric motor, the associated coupling means, and the framework necessary to support the motor unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,052 describes an extrusion machine enabling the changing of extrusion dies without incurring production down time, by providing at least two dies on a support plate that is rotatable on an axis parallel with respect to the extruder axis. An hydraulic motor may be used to power a cutter that is arranged to sever extrudate leaving the extruder through the die. There is no mention of the arrangement for supplying drive fluid to and removing it from the motor. A drive shaft connects the motor to a satellite mitre gear that is coupled to provide drive to the cutter.
An object of this invention is to provide means for rotating a cutter blade that may be integrated into the cutter assembly to thereby save space and facilitate maintenance of the extrusion apparatus.